Power, corruption, religion & politics

by Seeker 16 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Seeker

  I find it amusing but disconcerting to see the blinders on people's eyes when it comes to politics. Here we are, most of us having been JWs, but now we are fully aware of the corruption of the WTS, yet we are blind to the same thing happening in politics. This is especially true of the more conservative members among us. I don't know if conservatives are less intelligent than liberals (doubtful), but their argument are more facile. Of course, right now "their" man is in the White House and most people don't think about politics but just pick sides. So I suppose if a liberal were in the White House (though it's now been decades since there was one), the liberals might be appearing just as silly as they picked sides with "their" man. In any case, in this essay, I want to point out the similarities between the U.S. government and the WTS, and how power has corrupted both to the point where reform is virtually impossible in either case.

  Power Corrupts. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

  Power corrupts. Just as a local elder might be a mighty decent chap, there are local politicians working hard for their constituents. The local dogcatcher in Whoopsadaisy, New Mexico is probably doing a great job, and is probably not that corrupt, all things considered. After all, what is the motivation for corruption when there is virtually no power attached.

  Ah, but add power into the mix and what do we get? Right, more corruption. Move up through the ranks of COs, DOs, and Bethel heavies and what do we find? Right, more consolidation of power to the exclusion of justice. Corruption ensues. Same thing with state legislators, representatives in Congress, and Senators. Power is involved here, and corruption quickly follows. When you get to the top, whether you are talking about the President, or the Governing Body, you are talking about ultimate power within that system. And thus ultimate corruption ensues.

  Would you expect a GB member to go against his self interests in order to help a downtrodden publisher being set upon by the local body of elders? Of course not! They would never tear down the trappings of power set in place in order to right a wrong. Neither will the President.

  Would you expect a GB member to bring about reform? Never! One tried it and was kicked out. Same thing with the Presidency. If a president were to actually attempt to reform the system, he would be thrown out.

  Can you vote your reforms at the Kingdom Hall? Nope, not allowed. Ah, but here it's different with the U.S. political system right? Nope. You get a choice between the duopoly of Democrats and Republicans, and if you dare to run against them, you will be marginalized. If the election results don't turn out the way you want them to, count them again. You fear a candidate? Assassinate him. If you want to have your voice known in Washington, bring cash. Nothing else matters. Lobbyists call the shots, and politicians dance to their tune.

  Why is this surprising? We all thought the WTS had our best interests at heart. Turned out they were corrupted by power and only interested in perpetuating their own power base. Guess what? That's what happens in any organization once it reaches a certain size, age, and power level. Including, and especially politics, where you have the ultimate power.

  Lobbyists call the shots, corporations pay the lobbyists to buy the laws they want bought, and if a politician doesn't go along he or she gets shunted aside. The media, now almost entirely bought up by deeply conservative megacorporations, no longer reports the truth. The media reports what the government wants reported. It's not a total whitewash, of course, for that would be discrediting to the media, so they make sure to have occasional muckraking episodes that don't ultimately go anywhere subtantial. The media feeds the masses their pablum, ever ratcheting the quality level downward toward the gutter. The public, half brain-dead from the mesmerizing images being fed them by the conservative corporations, feeds eagerly on this gruel designed to keep them fat and happy with the status quo.

  Just like the average JW is propagandized into a state of half-awake acceptance of whatever is fed them.

  So go ahead and praise Bush as much as you want. Defend Clinton if you want. But don't for a moment think their system is any less corrupt than the WTS. We've all had the WTS corruption presented to us here on a silver platter. You'll have to dig out the political corruption on your own, as I have done. But just as the average JW will stumble in here crying, "The Watchtower never lies," and we all shake our heads sadly, I feel the same way whenever I see someone say that our voice counts, or that the president is doing a great job, or that the media is liberal. It doesn't, he hasn't, and it isn't.

  Don't believe me? It's OK, JWs don't believe us that the WTS is corrupt until they do the research for themselves. So go ahead, call me names, call me blind. I'm used to such JW tactics. I know better now about the WTS. And I know better now about politics.

  Power corrupts. Both religion and politics. If you aren't surprised by the one, why be surprised by the other?
• 

  metatron

  I understand your cynical feelings but compared to 'human'
  governments, the Watchtower is far worse.

  How so? Reform, change and hope for the organization improving
  are, so far, pointless. Why should it be otherwise with
  a tyrannical, inept, gerontocracy? Even when reform seems to
  emerge ("We won't DF people who need a blood transfusion")
  you later find out, they've backtracked and are just lying
  again("People who take blood DA themselves").

  I am continually surprized by the tolerance and progress
  in human rights in the world. An American president celebrates
  Ramadan in the White House - Foreign policy is largely run
  by two descendants of slaves (Powell and Rice). Apartheid
  was broken down in South Africa mostly by moral force.

  Real, concrete, positive change is possible in the world,
  warts and all - but like Jesus' illustration of the wineskins,
  I don't see such change possible in the organization...

  without bursting, that is.

  metatron
• 

  Seeker

  Thanks for your comments. I understand what you are saying, and I did point out that on a more local level politics can work. But when you say this:

  Even when reform seems to emerge ("We won't DF people who need a blood transfusion")
  you later find out, they've backtracked and are just lying again("People who take blood DA themselves").

  you have neatly described national politics too. The FBI tries to increase their ability to spy on U.S. citizens who are not accused of any crime. They get rebuffed, and claim to have learned their lesson. Then 9/11 happens, and they push through the same violation of rights that were earlier rejected. In other words, even when it seems the people have won a victory, they haven't. The powers that be are merely retrenching and trying again.

  Another example: The media helped bring down a president with Watergate. The people won? Nope, the powers that be just retrenched, bought up the media, gutted it, and now they get to do whatever they want.
• 

  metatron

  relative to the corrupt Hoover days, the FBI is much better
  than it was("there is no Mafia").

  Watergate? Nothing compared to what FDR got away with.
  - and he didn't get pushed out!

  The current response to terrorism is really very mild
  constitutionally speaking. Read a careful history of
  Lincoln and his response to the Civil War and note the
  restrictions on rights that would be unthinkable today.

  Oh, and I can't remember the case but convictions based
  on confessions gained by torture were not thrown out as
  unconstitutional until the 30's( the Supreme Court case
  involved blacks who were beaten into confessing in a
  Southern state)

  things do get better, little by little

  after all, we do have indoor plumbing!

  metatron
• 

  CPiolo

  So let me see if I've got this right.

  Multi-national corporations donate to political parties and candidates, wine, dine and give gifts to candidates and politicians, and buy ads in the very media they own in order to place "their people" in office, who in turn can pass laws and legislation "friendly" to their coporate backers financial interests. Quite a racket, ain't it?

  It's not just the people involved, but the whole system that's corrupt. In order to fix it you need those who benefit from the system to change the system so that they no longer benefit, i.e. campaign finance reform. Not a likely scenario without a lot of pressure from their constituents, who, up till now, have been almost dead silent about reforming the system.

  Same goes for the WT. Why would those at the top do something to end the freeride they get at the expense of the rank and file?

  Cheers,

  CPiolo
• 

  drahcir yarrum

  Seeker:

  Theocracy
  Democracy
  Representative Republic
  Dictatorship
  Monarchy
  Tribalism
  Anarchy

  There may be a few that I've left out, but of those forms of government listed above, all involve the potential for political corruption. Even in anarchy, perhaps the biggest, baddest person will try to gain control of the group.

  But humans always try to organize themselves into a hierarchial structure and since we're dealing with matters of power, we must deal with the risks of corruption. So what?

  I used to be extremely liberal in my point of view when I was young and inexperienced and thought it mattered that life isn't fair. As I've grown older I haven't grown more conservative, simply more pragmatic. You'd actually have a difficult time labelling me as a conservative since I believe in leaving people alone and letting them take full responsibility for their actions and inactions. I've answered questionaires where my responses to questions put me in the libertarian column and not the conservative one. I've found liberals
  to be too led by emotions and issues of "fairness".

  "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son." Dean Vernon Wormer, Faber College
• 

  Seeker

  I think what I object to most is being lied to. Politicians lie to us. The media lies to us. The WTS lied to us.

  I object. And yes, you need some sort of political system to get along, and every other kind of government besides a republic gets corrupted to. I'm not saying not to try to get involved or to help. I'm just saying we need to do so with open eyes. You wouldn't take an Awake! article at face value. Have the same skepticism when Bush (or whoever is president next) opens his mouth.
• 

  David Gladden

  It all comes down to the idea of corporations... The people in them are not legally liable for their actions (except in extreme circumstances - Enron); the corporation (a fictitious "person" in the eyes of the state) is what is liable.

  When a "brother" acts in an official capacity as a "representative" of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, INCORPORATIED, you are really talking to the corporation, not the individual person.

  When you really get down to it, only an officer of the corporation is able to act or speak in an official capacity for a corporation. This little "gotcha" gives the "brothers" even more legal protection for their words and actions. Should a "brother" do or say something wrong, the officers of the corporation can say that he did not have authority to act or speak and therefore did not represent the corporation - it's as if the act never happened.
• 

  Seeker

  Indeed, the very nature of a corporation is impersonal. It has no emotion, but exists merely to increase shareholder profit. Thus all sorts of "evil" things can be done by corporations even though they are not inherently evil.

  A smiliar cycle is visible among the WTS. Individual brothers may be decent human beings, but their seemingly benign actions help support a system that crushes people.
• 

  teejay

  The correlation between the WTS and the political structure is an easy one to make. Throw in any other organized group of people—from the Girl Scouts to the fictional Federation of the Star Trek series—and the similarities will hold.

  According to nature, few people have 'it' within them to lead. Most are followers. Few people like to think and would rather be told both what to think and what to do. Of course, they'd argue that point with you, but their actions would belie their words. People identify with their leaders and so, the leader's success is their success. Their leader's intellectual brilliance is theirs. Their leader's moral, even physical, stature becomes magically transferred onto them.

  For all the talk about freedom of speech, few people really want it or do much to recognize they even have the freedom. If their leader says so, it must be so and all they do is rubberstamp their leader's words. Throw in the perk of position and power that comes to those that ride on the leader's coattails, and the urge to follow is irresistible.

  Until something is altered at the molecular level, these facts about human beings will not change.